About 4 years ago we adopted an 8 year old English Bassett - Benson. The first few months we had him were hell as he refused to sleep, spending most of the night howling or crying. This was understandable as his previous owner could no longer look after him and he had been in a kennel for many months.

Anyway eventually he settled down and everything up was fine, until recently.... He is now 12 years old (i think English Bassett's have a life expectancy of 10?)We've never had a dog live this long before so we have no what to expect. It seems obvious that his hearing, sight and mobility are deteriorating, but that's not the problem. Lately he has gone back to his old ways, every night throughout the night he gets up and starts crying (making agitated noises). If we let him out in the garden he just stands there or lays down. What ever we do, whether it is stay and comfort him or tell him off, he still remains agitated getting up over and over again. If try to ignore him, his crys get louder and louder.

We've been to the vets several times; tried drugs to help him sleep, an electric blanket to make sure he's warm, putting a radio and a light on.

Most of my family is now suffering from sleep deprivation and we don't know how much longer we can take. We would have him upstairs if we could, but that would mean carrying him up and down each time, he may have short legs but he is extremely heavy.

We are convinced he is not doing this for attention it seems more like he is going senile or something.

Tinnitus might be the problem, during the day the house is very noisy so i doubt he would notice it. I have noticed that he has been very sensitive to loud noises lately. Even the smallest dropped item makes him run away. I'm pretty sure we had his ears checked, but it might be worth investigating.